


byleth, byleth, and garreg mach.

by poggerschampion



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cats, Character Study, Female My Unit | Byleth, Fluff, For the most part, Garreg Mach Monastery (Fire Emblem), Male My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth Twins, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Time Skip, Slice of Life, Team as Family, and jeralt named them the same name because hes not smart, flayn likes fish hee hee, garreg mach cats, they're twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25599199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poggerschampion/pseuds/poggerschampion
Summary: “Hmm… You’re both Byleth, then? I see.”They were both a bit odd, that much was obvious. For starters, why did they have the same name? Why were their features so horribly different, yet somehow the same? To be specific, their eyes and the way they carried themselves. The sister looked far more approachable than the brother by a wide margin. Maybe it was that his lips were always downturned into a permanent frown.Regardless, Edelgard smiled and bowed to both with the grace and poise she was well known for maintaining.“So you’ve both accepted a teaching position here… Pity. I was hoping you would lend your strength to the Empire.” The remark elicited no response from either Byleth--just a blank, unwavering stare. The brother blinked. The sister placed her cheek in one hand.--so basically right hear me out right what if they were twins right and jeralt just named them both byleth right and they're both really stupid like neither of them has the brain cell at any given moment right
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	1. Edelgard, Seteth, and Dedue

“Hmm… You’re both Byleth, then? I see.” 

They were both a bit odd, that much was obvious. For starters, why did they have the same name? Why were their features so horribly different, yet somehow the same? To be specific, their eyes and the way they carried themselves. The sister looked far more approachable than the brother by a wide margin. Maybe it was that his lips were always downturned into a permanent frown. 

Regardless, Edelgard smiled and bowed to both with the grace and poise she was well known for maintaining. 

“So you’ve both accepted a teaching position here… Pity. I was hoping you would lend your strength to the Empire.” The remark elicited no response from either Byleth--just a blank, unwavering stare. The brother blinked. The sister placed her cheek in one hand. 

Unable to bear the weight of their stares, the princess bowed and proceeded with the conversation on her own. Clearly, they weren’t the talkative type. How odd, she mused, for all that she’d gleaned of Jeralt… Well. Appearances were often deceiving. The sister inclined her head at Edelgard’s introduction. Ah, so they weren’t completely despondent. A twinge of guilt pinched at her conscience for the thought--they were their own people, after all. She was far from the right type of person to judge. There were many that would call the princess herself an unapproachable person. Maybe they had that in common.

“I hope you’ve had a chance to meet everyone.” She continued instead of lingering on the thought. “Would you like to know more about any of the Black Eagles?” 

As though the sister had read her mind, she inclined her head and gestured to Edelgard herself. The girl startled for a moment before recomposing herself with a small smile. How she’d not expected that was beyond her. Edelgard was the house leader, after all. 

Through her entire introduction, only the sister seemed to have any response. The brother remained silent, his stare burning a hole into the side of her face. How odd. They seemed to communicate without words, turning their deadpan stares to each other. Only a mere twitch of the brother’s eyebrow indicated some form of communication was happening. Edelgard watched with no small amount of interest. Surely if Linhardt were here, he’d find it beyond interesting enough to research on. 

Finally, the two turned back to her and smiled. The sister bowed her head in a nod once before turning on her heel and all but running off. The brother followed with his own odd farewell. Edelgard frowned and crossed her arms. What an odd pair. Hubert would surely disapprove… 

☆

In the end, the Blue Lions were the ones to welcome the two to their classroom. There had been a minor fuss about having two professors whereas the other houses had only one, but the dispute was settled rather quickly--one without the other proved to be a rather disappointing professor. Both other classes had laughed it off. 

“They’re only so old, hmm?” Manuela had replied when Seteth frowned at the two, wandering around together with the Blue Lions at their heels. “They’ve got maybe half the experience Hanneman and I do, the poor darlings. Lady Rhea has given her approval, so don’t worry too much about it. I’m sure they’ll be just fine.” 

Much of Seteth’s instinct doubted that they would be. How could they be? Sylvain was in their class for Goddess sake. 

And yet, wonders never ceased with the twins. 

Seteth knew two things for sure about both Byleths. The first was that they didn’t speak unless the situation truly called for it. More often than not, both would get their points across with hand gestures or objects. The sister more than the brother, since the brother was more prone to simply shoving things into peoples’ hands, but both were relatively silent and to an extent, obedient when orders were given. It wasn’t an uncommon sight to see one or the other running around the fishing pond or the student dorms completing request after request. 

The second was that they were absolutely unstoppable when asked to do something by one of their students. No, not even just their own students, by _anyone_. 

To date, the most ridiculous request Seteth had the unfortunate luck of seeing with his own two eyes was undoubtedly the Axe Situation. Aptly named by one of the soldiers who had been there to see it in action, the Axe Situation was a ridiculous request given to the sister by Caspar. From what Byleth had said of the request, it had been something along the lines of, “Hey professor! I want to use both my axe and my gauntlets at the same time, but you can’t hold an axe when you’re using gauntlets. Can you help me figure out a way to use both in battle?”

Honestly, the man was more surprised at her accepting the request than Caspar asking about it. 

Seteth had walked in at the worst possible moment that day, looking for either one of the twins. To his absolute terror, Caspar was armed with a pair of gauntlets that were both mangled beyond recognition, with silver axe heads melded to the sides. Worst of all, Byleth was standing there nodding her head as though something groundbreaking had just been revealed. Thankfully, the thing fell apart before Caspar could get a swing in. That idea had been shut down rather quickly, by both Seteth and Jeralt, after a long lecture on the prices of weapons and wasting materials. 

But it wasn’t all bad. To overlook their better achievements would be an insult. The lost items that found themselves scattered and relocated around the monastery moon after moon were returned over the course of a semester, a result of the two running around all the time. The greenhouse was blooming more than ever now that the brother had found interest in the flowers. Flayn feasted on only the best fish on the last day of every week without fail, courtesy of the sister and her fishing talent. It was only the occasional suggestion of tea that caught the man off guard nowadays, and even those were becoming typical of both twins to ask. 

Seteth wondered each time, sitting across from one or even sometimes both Byleths, with a cup of a different tea in his hands each week, just how exactly Jeralt had come to raise such children. 

☆

Sometimes Dedue wondered if the other Byleth was as, well... Clingy as her brother. 

It wasn’t an unwelcome presence by any means. The professor simply had a habit of staying silent when he hovered over Dedue’s shoulder in the greenhouse, staring at either his hands over the soil or the flowers he’d taken to watering. It was odd. Ashe, Annette, Sylvain, and Dimitri all tended to do the same thing, but they talked to fill the silence that always followed Dedue. Either something about the future, their studies, their fellow students, once even the matter of if Sylvain was really a virgin or not and what proof there was to back it up. 

Byleth… Didn’t. 

In that regard, perhaps they were the same, Dedue contemplated one day. Byleth was there as usual, one hand placed carefully over his shoulder while the other was carefully pointed over his chin as he watched Dedue work with the flowers. Whatever he was learning from watching his work in the greenhouse, Dedue hoped he used often. Finally, the student placed his watering can on the ground and clapped his hands free of dirt. It was only a few days ago when Sylvain had attempted to uproot his flowers to woo a girl in the dining hall and ended up pulling the entire bed with him. The dirt was still scattered across the stone of the greenhouse, much to his disdain. Dedue turned to stare at Byleth as he finished.

Byleth stared back. Dedue continued to stare as Byleth stared. They both stared. Finally, Dedue spoke.

“...Is there anything you require of me, professor?” 

The question was met with a single shake of the other man’s head. His hair fell into his eyes. Byleth did not move to sweep it back. ...Right. Well. 

It wasn’t news to anyone that the twins were unsettling. More than once, Felix had made comments on Byleth’s blank stare and her statue-like posture when she taught. Sometimes, very rarely, she would move her hands when speaking to others or contemplating an idea presented to her in a conversation. But her brother was on another level. He never gestured with his hands outside of lessons. His lips never formed a smile and his eyes never squinted with joy or approval. Despite this, however, he was surprisingly more vocal than his sister. 

When the two were together, it was him who would say what they were thinking. In a battle, it was him who gave the battle cry. In lectures, he was the one to answer questions and present new ideas. It didn’t change that neither of them spoke when it wasn’t necessary (or even when it was, honestly) but in his head, Dedue could hear his voice more clearly than his sister’s. 

After another awkward moment, Byleth held his hand out to Dedue. 

They were seeds. More accurately, seeds for the exact same kind of flower that Sylvain had destroyed. Byleth stared up at Dedue with the same unwavering expression, his lips turned downward just like every other day. Despite this, Dedue took the seeds. “...Thank you, professor.” 

As though he had been waiting for those words, Byleth turned on his heel and ran out of the greenhouse. Much like his sister, Byleth made it a habit to run everywhere. Was the monastery really that big…? Dedue watched him vault up the stairs to the dining hall and then turned his gaze back to the seeds. 

The professors were unsettling, yes, but Dedue couldn’t help but think for a moment that perhaps they were some of the kindest souls to ever walk the lands. 

☆  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mmgggbhgjs byleth stupid....... eyah... i like that idea...... also sylvain is a virgin my sister and i have settled that debate he has never had sex before u cant change my mind uhhh yeah..... also if u dont run everywhere in the game i dont want to talk to u
> 
> also i like the idea that female byleth is more of an actions kinda person like a 'put this in your hand and then stare at them until they take it' and male byleth is just a 'stare at them and hope they get it but if they don't then i guess say like two words' kinda person. idk i just like the idea of absolute idiot byleth no matter the gender or lack thereof


	2. Yuri, Dimitri, and Linhardt

To be honest, Yuri was much fonder of the brother than he was the sister. She was blank faced and apathetic, but in a much crueler and more impersonal way than her brother. Where she was all round features and no emotion, he at least held some sort of emotion that resembled maybe anger or regret in the downturn of his features. Standing and talking to the sister was like talking to a brick wall that made it a habit to stare into your very soul and turn your words inside out looking for some kind of meaning, some kind of ledge to take hold of and remember for later on that moon when it wanted something from you. 

Talking to the brother, however, was like talking to one of the cats in the monastery. 

Byleth’s features always softened when someone approached him. His brows straightened, his lips relaxed, and his entire face seemed to fall with every word spoken to him. In a sense, Yuri would call it a much more human reaction than that of his sister’s--she simply turned her chin up to stare and blink. 

“Hello, friend.” Yuri smiled over at Byleth with his usual smile. As per usual, Byleth’s features softened and he turned with a blink. “Odd to see you down here in the Abyss so early in the morning. What brings you here?” 

Wordlessly, Byleth tilted his face down to his ridiculous professor’s cloak (seriously, the sleeves weren’t even stitched shut) and dug around for a moment. Yuri waited patiently. At first, it had been awkward. Typically when he spoke and the person in front of him began digging around in their pockets, it meant a stab from a nicely concealed weapon was inbound. It took one too many unintentional injuries for Yuri to finally drop his guard enough around the professor to be at ease when he began digging around. At least his sister had the foresight to come prepared with whatever it was she had in hand already most of the time.

After a bit of fumbling, Byleth finally presented to Yuri what it was he had brought with him. Holding it up to the other man’s face with an almost proud gleam in his eyes, the professor blinked.

It was… A cookbook.

Yuri stared at it with a puzzled expression, lavender eyes slowly making their way across the gold words on the leather. Byleth pushed it closer to his face. At this point he looked more like an insistent child. 

They’d cooked together on more than one occasion. Byleth seemed to enjoy it more than his sister did, as she seemed more inclined to fishing, battles in the outskirts, and training with the other professors and knights around the monastery, so it wasn’t odd, per say, for him to come to Yuri asking to cook with him. But to bring a whole cookbook? It definitely wasn’t one from the library--either of them. In fact, it looked…

“Is this handmade?” Yuri took the book from his hands, taking note of how Byleth seemed to glow at his observation. The man nodded. 

Surely Byleth hadn’t written it by himself. In the margins were little notes like ‘use more salt’ and ‘cook with lower temp’ written in all different kinds of handwriting. The recipes were wildly different from each other as well. They ranged from homemade roasts to baked goods to what Yuri suspected was one of Dedue’s recipes from Duscar. Memories of Mercedes and Annette baking cookies together and Ashe standing over the pan with Dedue flashed in his mind as he flipped through the carefully sewn together pages, the handwriting neatly curling over the pages with the occasional side note and change in handwriting midway through. 

Both Byleths came to Yuri often with gifts. From the sister, it was typically board games and flowers. She seemed to know what he liked and played to that, giving him all kinds of useful and entertaining things. The brother, however, was more inclined to giving him things that Yuri would consider more heartfelt. He was usually the one giving lost items back to the people of the Abyss, gifting Yuri flowers and handmade trinkets. All the gifts from the two were kept safely in his own room, but…

Well, Yuri could afford to be a little selfish and admit that Byleth’s gifts were better than his sister’s most of the time.

Byleth stared at him as Yuri thumbed through the last few pages. Lavender met bold blue as he finally smiled, tucking it under his arm. “Thanks, friend. I’ll take good care of this.” 

As far as Byleth’s heartfelt gifts went, this one most certainly won first place.

☆

Dimitri was, on the best of days, a thick headed and well intentioned idiot. On the worst of days, he was just an idiot. 

Byleth stared as the prince fumbled and ‘well, I--’d his way through an embarrassing conversation with a gaggle of girls who were poorly concealing their laughter through their fingers. Sylvain sighed, at his side, and shook his head. She placed her chin in her hand, taking a break from her work to watch through the glass as the blonde finally seemed to give up and hurried back into the monastery with a red face. Sylvain bid a flirty farewell before following, calling Dimitri’s name with a laugh. Byleth could’ve almost smiled if not for the fact that she simply hadn’t the energy to do so. 

At her side, her brother nudged her and gestured to her work. Byleth stared at her brother, who blinked back. 

It wasn’t like they didn’t talk to each other. If anything, they spoke more in each other’s presence than in anyone else’s. Most times it was just… unnecessary. Byleth finally turned back to her own work. The scene of Dimitri, red faced and tripping over himself in front of the girls, earned itself a little huff from her chest. 

It wasn’t until class the following week that Byleth had a chance to think about it again. Dimitri strode up to her desk with a strange face, as though someone had shoved a lemon in his mouth and told him to swallow, and tilted his chin up to meet her gaze with a determined set to his eyebrows. She raised an eyebrow and waited for him to speak. As far as students asking questions after class, Dimitri and Ashe were by far the most frequent ones to stand before her. “Professor. If I may, could I ask you a question?”

Byleth nodded slowly. At this point, there was no point in asking that anymore. Always proper and polite, Dimitri was. Nothing could have prepared her for the question that left the prince’s lips, though.

“How do I flirt?” 

Byleth blinked. Ah. The scene with him and Sylvain flashed in her mind again, almost enough to bring a smile to her lips. The woman placed her cheek in one hand, considering the possible responses for him. 

For one, it would be cruel to tell him to just be himself. Dimitri was an idiot through and through when it came to emotions and social settings, so while it was a good response for anyone else, it was simply cruel to tell the prince to essentially continue embarrassing himself in front of girls. The next response that came to mind was to ask the other person about themselves more. That way, he didn’t have to talk at all, right? For someone who was as polite and caring of others more than himself, that seemed like a good response. Byleth’s final possible response was to simply shrug and say, ‘I don’t know, I’ve never flirted. Go ask Sylvain,’ but considering how Sylvain had been there to see his failed attempt that day… 

Byleth gestured with her right hand to Dimitri and offered her second response. Much to her pleasure, she had been right in assuming. 

The prince grinned and pumped his fists, eyes gleaming. Byleth wondered if he ever stopped to think for a moment if her advice was ever really useful. Constantly coming to the same person for help was a pitfall for trouble. Despite this, she simply gave him her typical professor smile and nodded once as he turned to leave. “I see! Thank you, professor! You’ve been a great help to me.” 

Oh, Dimitri. Byleth sighed as he disappeared into the courtyard. An idiot, yes, but on the best of days…

☆

The great thing about Byleth was that he was much less strict than his sister was. Linhardt sighed contently and snuggled back into Byleth’s shoulder as the professor flipped through his book. 

He had attempted to nap on the other Byleth before, but it simply resulted in her staring at him until he grew uncomfortable enough to get up and leave on his own, unnerved by her burning stare. 

It was a shame, really. Linhardt had all but napped on practically everyone by this point (save for the obviously untouchable people like Seteth and Hubert--he wasn’t foolish enough to try) and it was disappointing to find that he could only nap on one Byleth. Linhardt’s eyes closed as he mused over what situation or circumstance he could set up for Byleth to let him sleep on her. 

The opportunity arose a day later. It was no secret that Linhardt was fond of the cats that roamed around the monastery. How could he not be? They had the freedom that he craved. Oh, to be a cat wandering around every corner of the monastery with nobody around to scold him for it, to nap whenever and wherever he pleased… to be doted on by the most gentle of souls, hand feeding him fish and drowning him in attention. It was the ideal life. 

It came as a pleasant surprise to Linhardt to discover that, of the two Byleths, the sister was the one who spent the most time around the cats. 

It wasn’t that her brother didn’t like him. He was typically too busy in the greenhouse, kitchen, or his own room to spend enough time for the cats to approach him. But with how much Byleth fished, it was only natural that the cats flocked to her like a lifeline. She usually smelled like the fishing pond by the end of the last day of the week, a clean and refreshing scent that reminded Linhardt of the windy days that came often in the fall. 

Today, it seemed she had taken to fishing while covered in cats. Gloucester was lounging on her left thigh while Gautieron laid at her side, belly exposed. Ordelian was watching raptly as the string of her fishing line bobbed in the pond. Byleth sat at the edge of the pier with her attention focused on not the cats, but the line. A pile of freshly caught fish was piled into a crate nearby. 

“Flayn will definitely be pleased with this, professor.” Linhardt said in way of a greeting. Byleth simply glanced up at him and nodded once. 

He plopped down beside her. Varleyion padded over to him and began cuddling up at his side, to which he offered a scratch under the chin. Linhardt stared at the cats surrounding the woman. “You’re very popular with the cats, professor. If I didn’t know how much time you spent at the fishing pond, I’d almost think it a side effect of your strange crest.” 

As he spoke, Linhardt began slowly leaning on her and closing his eyes with a yawn to finish off his stray thought. Byleth glanced down at him.

This was typically the part where her burning stare began. The unsettling prickle of being watched would rise to his neck, his chest constricting oddly with nervous fear, hands twitching in his lap. But it never came. Linhardt cracked an eye open to look up at Byleth. She was staring out at the water again, more at peace than he had ever seen her. With a happy sigh, he shut his eyes again. Linhardt had finally accomplished the one thing on his to-do list. A content warmth spread in his chest. Now, he could take pride in the fact that he had napped on both professors. 

As for Byleth, well, her only thought was, ‘What’s one more cat sleeping on me while I fish today?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> huuuu if you have any specific characters you want to see interacting with the two byleths please let me know im just writing brain vomit at this point idk maybe i'll write a fic with a real plot someday im just really bad at plot flow so uhh yuh

**Author's Note:**

> mmgggbhgjs byleth stupid....... eyah... i like that idea...... also sylvain is a virgin my sister and i have settled that debate he has never had sex before u cant change my mind uhhh yeah..... also if u dont run everywhere in the game i dont want to talk to u
> 
> also i like the idea that female byleth is more of an actions kinda person like a 'put this in your hand and then stare at them until they take it' and male byleth is just a 'stare at them and hope they get it but if they don't then i guess say like two words' kinda person. idk i just like the idea of absolute idiot byleth no matter the gender or lack thereof


End file.
